TWO youths kicked a 15-year-old traveller to death in an attack that had racial overtones, a court heard.

Johnny Delaney, who lived with his family at a caravan park in Liverpool, had been visiting friends in Ellesmere Port on May 28 this year when he was killed on a playing field.

Two 16-year-olds, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny murder. They are on trial at Chester Crown Court.

Christopher Vospa, prosecuting, said the defendants were part of a group of teenagers who crossed paths with Johnny Delaney and his friends from the travelling community.

There was a confrontation between the two groups, which is said to have started when one of the teenagers shouted racist insults at the travellers.

Mr Vospa added that a member of Johnny Delaney's group responded by picking up a piece of fencing and hitting a member of the defendants' group on the arm.

This improvised weapon was then seized by a member of the defendants' group and the travellers ran away, the court heard.

Kevin and Emma McLaughlin, who were walking their dog on the field, said they then saw Johnny Delaney trip and try to get back up.

But when he saw members of the defendants' group coming towards him, he lay down on the ground in a foetal position, the court heard.

Mr McLaughlin said he saw about three youths kicking Johnny Delaney while he was on the ground, adding that one of them had kicked his head 'like you were trying to kick a football as far as you could'.

He added that, eventually, Johnny Delaney seemed to go limp and his hands, which he had been holding up to shield his head, fell down to his sides.

Mr McLaughlin said that as soon as the hands were away from his head, one of the youths had begun stamping on his head.

When asked how much force there was behind the stamps, Mr McLaughlin said: 'It was like he was trying to bury his head.'

Mrs McLaughlin told the jury: 'It's hard to believe I saw what I saw. It was a shocking experience.'

She said Johnny Delaney seemed to lose consciousness at one stage, but one of the youths kept stamping on his head.

And she added: 'I screamed at him to get off him, and he said: 'He deserves it. He's a f...... gipsy.''

Mr Vospa told the jury that if they accepted this evidence, then Johnny Delaney's murder had 'racial overtones'.

But he did not allege that either of the defendants wanted Johnny Delaney to die, adding that on the night of the attack, one of them had cried as he told a friend he'd just had a fight with a 'gipsy', who had died.

Mr Vospa said that, in police interview, both defendants had admitted kicking Johnny Delaney, but denied they were responsible for his death. PROCEEDING